Girls lose at wire to Westhill; boys fall to Sherburne-Earlville

The task for Bishop Grimes’ girls basketball team was a large one – namely, avenge two regular-season defeats to no. 3 seed Westhill in Tuesday night's Class B quarterfinal.

And the Cobras nearly pulled it off, rallying twice in the second half and getting a shot at forcing overtime, only to come up just short in a 43-41 defeat to the Warriors.

Against the same Westhill side it lost to 55-23 on Feb. 1, Grimes only trailed 10-7 after one period, but things threatened to get away in the second quarter as the Warriors built a 24-13 margin going into halftime.

Anna Ross outscored the Cobras by herself in the half with 14 points, but registered only three points in the final two quarters. Sam Peebles, the other half of the Westhill dual offensive threat, was held to nine points.

As the Warriors' stars struggled, Grimes got back into it, converting four 3-pointers in the third quarter to mount its first rally of the night.

Jordan Vaught and Megan Costello hit one 3-pointer apiece, and Katy McInerney added back-to-back 3's to tie it, 32-32, late in the period. Costello scored seven of her team-leading 17 points in the quarter, with Vaught adding seven of her 10 points.

But as hot as Grimes got in that period, it was just as cold through most of the fourth quarter, just when the Warriors found its rhythm again during an 11-2 run to eventually go up 43-35 with three and a half minutes left.

Still, it wasn’t over. Grimes began its second comeback of the night thanks to turnovers on defense and missed free throws by Westhill. Mary Kate Washburn and Peebles missed the front end of one-and-one opportunities three times, and the Cobras responded with field goals to inch closer.

After Teresa Shattuck closed the gap to two with 15 seconds left, Peebles missed another free throw and the Cobras had the change to send the game into overtime. But the ball slipped out of Costello’s hands just as time expired.